content-left-bg.png
content-right-bg.png

Eastern Sedge-frog

WebPartZone1_1
PublishingPageContent

Litoria fallax

Description

eastern sedge frog

The Eastern Sedge-frog, sometimes called the Dwarf Tree Frog, is a small species of tree frog approximately 3 centimetres in length. It can vary considerably in colour from pale brown to green, with a distinctive white jaw strip and dark band that runs between the nostril and eye, and a bright orange thigh. It is common in suburban gardens on the Queensland coast, particularly when there is a source of water nearby.

Up to 300 eggs are laid by females in spring and summer on the surface of the water in amongst the vegetation. Individual clumps of frog spawn usually only contain up to 35 eggs. Tadpoles have dark tails with pale or patterned bodies, and can reach 55 millimetres in length.

Adaptations

  • Changing colouration gives them excellent camouflage in vegetation
  • Large eyes enable them to see at night
  • Discs on toes help them to climb almost any surface
  • Females lay eggs in small clumps in many different locations to improve the chances of eggs hatching into tadpoles and tadpoles surviving to become adult frogs

Feeding relationships

  • What I eat: as a tadpole - algae; as a frog — small invertebrates
  • What eats me: as a tadpole — fish, birds, water spiders and dragonfly larvae; as a frog — snakes (e.g. Green Tree Snake & Red-bellied Black Snake); birds (e.g. Herons, Kingfishers, Egrets); lizards (e.g. Water Dragon, Golden Water Skink); other frogs (e.g. Green Tree Frog)

Interesting facts

Eastern Sedge-frogs are sometimes called ‘banana frogs’ because they quite often turn up in fruit shops as accidental stowaways, travelling long distances from their usual habitat.
WebPartZone1_2
WebPartZone2_1
WebPartZone2_2
WebPartZone2_3
WebPartZone3_1
WebPartZone3_2
WebPartZone3_3
WebPartZone3_4
WebPartZone4_1
WebPartZone5_1
WebPartZone5_2
WebPartZone6_1
WebPartZone6_2
WebPartZone7_1
WebPartZone7_2
WebPartZone8_1
WebPartZone8_2
WebPartZone9_1
Last reviewed 02 June 2020
Last updated 02 June 2020